Green giants: Centenary Shield winners can light up Irish football

Following last Friday’s sellout crowd at the Cork City-Dundalk showdown, the national landscape of the League of Ireland has come in for criticism because of its inability to match the support at Turner’s Cross. Ironically, 24 hours earlier a first-half goal from Cork player Conor Ellis in Edinburgh ensured the Schoolboys in Green ended their title-winning campaign unbeaten.

Having regained the Centenary Shield after a five-year gap the previous week thanks to a famous win over England in Sligo, last Thursday’s 1-1 draw in Scotland secured one of their most successful campaigns ever.

With O’Reilly’s squad made up of young stars - mainly based with League of Ireland Under-19 clubs - from the four corners of the country, the Trinity Comprehensive Ballymun PE teacher insists Irish domestic football has been vindicated by their achievement.

“I personally think this is a great advertisement for young men staying in Ireland to finish their education alongside their football ambitions,” said O’Reilly. “Most of our lads are LOI Under-19 players and their clubs are doing a great job, making them players who can win an international competition. The League of Ireland gets a lot of bad press, but these are the future stars of the league and some - like Seamus Coleman, who played with this team - will go even higher,” added O’Reilly.

The 2015 FAI Schools Centenary Shield campaign can be seen on ClubApp (iOS & Android). A live scoring platform with team sheet graphics and stats automated from updates, you can sign your club up for live scoring at clubapp.ie